In a year when we’re already paying elevated electricity prices, Illinois’ biggest utilities are piling on by pushing for $930 million in new rate hikes. The parent companies of these utilities raked in about $15 billion in total profits in 2025, and now they’re pushing for an increase in delivery…...
CUB General Counsel’s Report on 2026 legal cases
The following is a report from CUB General Counsel Eric DeBellis to Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz on major cases CUB’s Legal Team is tackling in 2026, including $571 million in rate cases before the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC). If you are concerned about these rate hikes, please take action by signing…...
Regulatory judges recommend reducing Nicor rate hike by $100 million, consumer advocates urge regulators to cut further
A recommendation pending before state regulators would shave a record-setting rate hike proposal now looming over 2.3 million Nicor Gas customers by more than $100 million, or about one-third, but consumer advocates say there is more fat to trim from the prosperous utility’s bid for a bloated increase in heating…...
Update on Ameren’s gas rate-hike request
Since we first reported on Ameren Illinois’ gas rate-hike request in January, the utility has adjusted its rate hike. Here’s a quick review: Ameren’s Rate-hike Request: The company has adjusted the amount from about $134.4 million to $131.1 million. It’s not unusual for a rate-hike total to be adjusted as…...
This Week: CUB Urges Ameren Customers to Attend ICC Forums in Springfield, East St. Louis to Protest Utility’s Push for 4th Gas Rate Hike in Recent Years
The Citizens Utility Board (CUB) is urging Ameren Illinois gas customers to attend Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) public forums in Springfield on Wednesday and East St. Louis on Thursday to protest their utility’s proposal for a fourth excessive gas rate hike in less than a decade. Consumer advocates argue that…...
As Ameren Rolls in Profits and Pushes for Higher Rates, Consumer Groups Call for Cutting Ameren’s Gas Rate-Hike Request by Two-thirds
Ameren Illinois’ push to win the largest shareholder profit rate of any major gas utility in the state is unjust and unreasonable, and its $134 million rate-hike request is about triple what the utility can justify under the law, the Citizens Utility Board (CUB), Illinois PIRG and Environmental Defense Fund…...
Consumer Advocates Urge Regulators To Cut Nicor’s Record Rate Hike By More Than Half; Decry Excessive Profits, Wasteful Executive Bonuses
Nicor Gas’ bid for a record-breaking $308.6 million rate hike is rife with excesses and should be slashed by more than half, according to testimony submitted to state regulators by the Citizens Utility Board (CUB), Illinois PIRG, Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), and other consumer advocates. (Update: Since the testimony was…...
Casework Roundup: Enough! Gas utility pushes for record rate hike
The ink was barely dry on rate hikes granted electric and water utilities in 2024 when Nicor Gas and Ameren Illinois proposed new gas increases for 2025—including one that would be the largest gas increase in Illinois history. Also, Peoples Gas has filed papers with state regulators indicating it might…...
CUB to utility exec: Stop downplaying rate hike!
Addressing a packed public forum about a proposed rate hike that could average up to $27-$29 per month, a utility executive downplayed the increase by saying it “will be less than a dollar-a-day….” CUB Executive Director Sarah Moskowitz sparked applause at the forum when she said: “A ‘dollar a day’…...
Op-Ed: Private water customers in Illinois are crying for help. Will the General Assembly listen?
By Sarah Moskowitz CUB Executive Director Hundreds of customers of Illinois’ largest private water utility packed an Illinois Commerce Commission public forum in Bolingbrook one recent summer night. They were fed up with how high their bills are now — and that Illinois American Water wanted to raise them by nearly…...
